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Facility amenities: The Best Western Harbor plaza is a modern, beautifully appointed hotel featuring air conditioned rooms, seasonal outdoor pool & spa, conference center, room service, and its central Whidbey Island location is the perfect launching point for educational adventures.

Smoking policy: NoSmoking policies vary by facility. During all group events and activities, smoking is prohibited.

Afternoon: Check in at hotel 4:00 PM. Program begins with orientation at 5:00PM.

Dinner: Our dinners are served buffet style so that you choose what works for you. Tonight’s dinner features NW green salad, home-made lasagna (choose from meat or veggie lasagna), and garlic bread – topped off with coffee, tea, iced tea, water and dessert of the day.

Evening: Welcome and get acquainted program following dinner. Whidbey Island and the North Olympic Peninsula's extensive coastlines offer exceptional birdwatching year-round and great species diversity. During our week we will also seek out a few of the cultural delights of Whidbey Island from our centrally located hotel launching point in Oak Harbor.

Facility amenities: The Best Western Harbor plaza is a modern, beautifully appointed hotel featuring air conditioned rooms, seasonal outdoor pool & spa, conference center, room service, and its central Whidbey Island location is the perfect launching point for educational adventures.

Smoking policy: NoSmoking policies vary by facility. During all group events and activities, smoking is prohibited.

Morning: Begin the morning with an Ornithologist's presentation to orient you to the geography and habitats unique to the area. Birding in the field follows. We'll bird and explore at Fidalgo Island and take a special insider's visit to the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Lunch: To extend and enhance our birding opportunities, we’ll enjoy a picnic/bag lunch today. Our caterer will provide whole fresh fruit, chips, bottled water, and a chef’s choice fresh bakery treat for everyone. Each member of the group will build their own sandwich to their liking – choosing from an assortment of meats, cheese, breads, and condiments / accoutrements.

Afternoon: Afternoon birding continues on Fidalgo Island and Washington Park, with its lowland coniferous forest habitats and exposed rock shoreline. It provides the opportunity to see a number of water birds, shorebirds, and resident forest passerines. Return to hotel in the late afternoon to update your checklists and relax / refresh.

Dinner: Our dinners are served buffet style so that you choose what works for you. Tonight’s dinner features NW green salad, grilled chicken, steamed veggies, and red potatoes or rice – topped off with coffee, tea, iced tea, water and dessert of the day.

Evening: Ornithologist guide provides lecture on shorebirds of the area, such as Western sandpipers, black-bellied plovers, black turnstones, etc.

Facility amenities: The Best Western Harbor plaza is a modern, beautifully appointed hotel featuring air conditioned rooms, seasonal outdoor pool & spa, conference center, room service, and its central Whidbey Island location is the perfect launching point for educational adventures.

Smoking policy: NoSmoking policies vary by facility. During all group events and activities, smoking is prohibited.

Morning: We'll travel aboard the Washington State ferry (birding our way across the channel) to the neighboring Olympic Peninsula where we will visit Dungeness River Audubon Center and the Dungeness Spit, the world's longest natural sand spit. Walking Dungeness Spit enables one to see a spectacular array of sea birds and shorebirds. Large numbers of Brants and sea ducks, such as Scoters, Goldeneyes, Buffleheads, and Long-tailed Ducks, are visible from shore. Offshore alcids, gulls, and Jaegers, plus an occasional Phalarope, Shearwater, or Storm-petrel might be spotted. Black-bellied Plovers, Dunlins, and Sanderlings feed in abundance on the inside shoreline during winter. This is a good place to spot Peregrine Falcons, and Gyrfalcons during winter.

Lunch: Picinc lunch at the Dungeness River Audubon Center. Examine array of specimens housed at the Center.

Afternoon: Our afternoon field trip continues to the Birding continues to Discovery Bay. Expect to see varied diving ducks, loons, and grebes. In the winter season, large numbers of Ancient Murrelets and Pacific Loons occupy nearby waters. Explore the historic Victorian seaport of Port Townsend in the late afternoon before return to Whidbey via the ferry with more off shore sightings possible. Return to the hotel in time for dinner.

Dinner: Our dinners are served buffet style so that you choose what works for you. Tonight’s dinner features NW green salad, home-made meatloaf, steamed veggies, and one of the following: rice, potatoes, pasta– topped off with coffee, tea, iced tea, water and dessert of the day.

Evening: Take the evening off after our longest day of birding. Relax by the lobby fireplace or take the opportunity to update and compare checklists.

Facility amenities: The Best Western Harbor plaza is a modern, beautifully appointed hotel featuring air conditioned rooms, seasonal outdoor pool & spa, conference center, room service, and its central Whidbey Island location is the perfect launching point for educational adventures.

Smoking policy: NoSmoking policies vary by facility. During all group events and activities, smoking is prohibited.

Morning: Explore the Central coasts of Whidbey Island, with special feature of Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve. First of its kind in the National Park Service, this unique area is a preserved cultural landscape with interesting history, and rich birding opportunities abound.

Lunch: Have lunch the way you like it! Lunch will be served buffet-style and features a soup of the day with salad bar (including green leaf / spinach salad, a variety of fresh raw veggies, potato salad, three bean salad, and more) – topped off with coffee, tea, iced, water and dessert of the day.

Afternoon: Birding in field continues on Central Whidbey.Take time out from Birding to explore the tiny and eclectic Victorian Seaport of Coupeville, or bird from the vantage point of the oldest standing wharf in the Puget Sound that overlooks Penn Cove.

Dinner: Our dinners are served buffet style so that you choose what works for you. Tonight’s dinner features NW green salad, baked salmon/fish (as locally available by season), rice , and steamed veggies– topped off with coffee, tea, iced tea, water and dessert of the day.

Facility amenities: The Best Western Harbor plaza is a modern, beautifully appointed hotel featuring air conditioned rooms, seasonal outdoor pool & spa, conference center, room service, and its central Whidbey Island location is the perfect launching point for educational adventures.

Smoking policy: NoSmoking policies vary by facility. During all group events and activities, smoking is prohibited.

Morning: Our morning begins with birding en-route to scenic Deception Pass Gorge, a spectacular narrow saltwater passage on Whidbey Island's northern tip. It offers great scenery and wildlife watching, and is known for its picturesque historic bridge and ancient forests. The State Park is over 4000 acres, with 35 miles of hiking trails, 15 miles of seashore and rugged cliffs that drop to meet the turbulent waters of Deception Pass. Birding continues to Rosario Beach and Bowman Bay hotspots.

Lunch: Have lunch the way you like it! Lunch will be served buffet-style and features a soup of the day with salad bar (including green leaf / spinach salad, a variety of fresh raw veggies, potato salad, three bean salad, and more) – topped off with coffee, tea, iced, water and dessert of the day.

Afternoon: Take to the water with a jet boat trip through the Deception Pass Gorge. Bring your binoculars to search for loons, phalaropes, mergansers, merlins, bald eagles, oystercatchers, harlequin ducks, murrelets, auklets, and more. Over 85 bird species and eight mammal species, including sea lions, elephant seals, whales and porpoises, have been sighted in the area.

Dinner: Our dinners are served buffet style so that you choose what works for you. Tonight’s dinner features NW green salad, prawns & scallops (in sun-dried tomato pesto), penne pasta and steamed veggies– topped off with coffee, tea, iced tea, water and dessert of the day.

Evening: Evening Lecture: review and discuss "Northwest Superlatives." with our Expert's impressions and knowledge of the great Northwest.

Morning: Ornithologist "week in review" with group discussion of sightings. After discussion, program concludes to allow comfortable travel time to greater Seattle area and points beyond. Hotel check out is by 11:00 AM.

Whidbey and Camano Islands Visitors GuideEnjoy year-round vacation getaways on Whidbey and Camano Islands located in Puget Sound just a short drive north of Seattle--and only a two hour drive south of Vancouver, Canada.For additional information, visit: www.whidbeycamanoislands.com/

Important information about your itinerary: Please know that while we do everything we can to finalize all aspects of our programs well in advance, there are logistics that occasionally must be altered. Our website will reflect the most recent information, and we are committed to providing you with final program details no later than eight weeks prior to the start of programs outside the U.S. and three weeks prior to the start of programs within the U.S. If you ever have questions about your program, please don't hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to assist you.

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The latest in light, portable, easy-to-use QUIETVOX listening devices are available on Road Scholar programs.* Whether you are outdoors, in a crowd or in a museum environment where speaking loudly is discouraged, a listening device makes it feel like our experts are speaking clearly and directly to you. Hear for yourself on a Road Scholar adventure!

*Please note that due to the nature of some programs, the remote location or government regulations, listening devices may not be available. If you’d like to know for sure if your program will offer listening devices, just call and ask an Advisor!